When we admitted to losing a smart phone with all our passwords stored on board, a reader wrote to suggest” “Why not use the Vault?”

“The Vault” is a free app for Android or iPhone and it encrypts and stores any information you type. To get back into the vault you must use the right password or you don’t get in at all. We stored passwords for half a dozen websites, and a few credit card numbers. If we get a new phone some day, we’ll export that information to a memory card and import it to the new phone.

“The Vault” app should not to be confused with “NQ Mobile Vault” for Android. The NQ puts your text messages, photos, videos and Facebook chats into its own vault. This could be useful for cheating spouses, criminals, and anyone with a secretive nature. It’s been downloaded over 10,000 times so far, still early days.